Open space

A self-organizing part of a program. You provide the time, the rooms or corners, and a board. Attendees propose the topics on the spot, the proposals get placed on a grid, and people move to whichever conversation they actually want. Nothing is scheduled in advance except the block itself. It costs a whiteboard and some sticky notes, and it works best with a group who each arrived carrying a different problem, which describes most rooms full of filmmakers.

Source: The DevOpsDays Organizing Guide, which reserves its afternoons for “openspaces: a self-organizing part where everybody gets to propose a session,” and publishes a dedicated Open Space format page along with practical notes on running the schedule grid (a whiteboard with oversized sticky notes, a shared spreadsheet, the session list posted outside each room). The broader Open Space Technology method originates with Harrison Owen; DevOpsDays is the source this course uses because it documents the community-event application.

First used in: 2.5 · Program design: the show people remember.